All-girl charter school is first in NC for single gender

WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina’s first charter school educating only children of a single gender is opening its doors.

One hundred sixth-grade girls are the first students to attend the Girls Leadership Academy of Wilmington. About 80 additional girls will be enrolled each year until the school reaches full enrollment in 2022 with students in grades 6 through 12.

The school is an outgrowth of similar schools started 20 years ago in East Harlem, New York.

The state school board approved adding the school to North Carolina’s roster of nearly 170 charter schools, which are taxpayer-funded public schools allowed to operate with fewer rules and more freedom to innovate that traditional schools.